AARP and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Push for Improvements in Retirement Saving

Last updated on July 29, 2022

An important issue for every American is preparing for retirement. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) unified in their effort to urge policymakers to implement solutions that will help Americans have a more secure retirement.

AARP shares their stance and the reasons for it: “Unless we reverse current trends, the majority of Americans will face a grim future in retirement,” said Debra Whitman, AARP Executive Vice President for Policy, Strategy and International Affairs. “That is why we are calling today for expanding access for workers to save for retirement and for improving the tax incentives that help encourage them to save. Moving forward, AARP will continue to work to improve financial security for older Americans and for their children and grandchildren.”

“With the unprecedented growth in the number of Americans who are at or near retirement age, it is clear that an emphasis on increasing retirement savings will not only contribute to individual retirement security but also to America’s economic security,” said Randy Johnson, the U.S. Chamber’s senior vice president of Labor, Immigration and Employee Benefits. “The Chamber is committed to preserving the ability of employers to provide flexible and comprehensive compensation to employees and therefore helping to protect the retirement security of America’s workforce. Our changing demographics show that we must act now.”

The current statistics of Americans who have retirement savings has lead both the AARP and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to push for improvements in retirement savings. The two organizations share the desire to help Americans enjoy greater security after retirement. The practices shared by the two organizations from AARP sources are as follows:

• “Expand access for workers to tax-deferred payroll deduction retirement saving plans at their place of work, while recognizing and minimizing any additional burden these plans place on employers. Payroll deduction retirement saving, especially when combined with automatic enrollment and automatic escalation, has proven to be the most efficient and effective method to increase participation and retirement savings.

• Keep and enhance incentives to save for individuals at all income levels while targeting in particular those low- and moderate-income earners who have fewer opportunities and resources to save. Increasing private retirement saving is critical to both overall economic growth and to the future income security of millions of Americans.

• Increase education efforts regarding the need for working Americans to save sufficient amounts for retirement and how to most effectively do so. Many Americans with the ability to set money aside simply do not save or save far less than they should. Improved and sustained educational efforts can help address that challenge.”

These practices can help provide better retirement saving to a greater number of Americans. As it is expected, this problem will only increase with time, AARP and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce address the forum and the policy makers to develop and implement policies timely to avoid intensification of the problem in the future.